Growing out of faith
by bluefa1ry
Summary: What if your whole life, you had believed in Peter Pan and all fantastic supernatural things? Your mother told you the stories, and you believed that you went. What happens if you wanted to grow up and abandon everything that you have grown up with?


"Mom! Argh! Just...just shut up and listen! Please!" Ireland pleaded.

"NO! I don't get you! What gave you idea that I would be okay with you getting expelled? How stupid can you be? You're 16! It's illegal for you to drink!" Nicole yelled. She didn't _want _to yell, but lately, Ireland had been acting so irresponsible. She should have seen it coming. Her daughter was just like her. Granted, Nicole never got drunk, especially under aged. And she was NEVER kicked out of school.

"What do you want from me? 'The best'? Maybe I don't want that! Maybe, I want to live my own life and find what fits ME."

Nicole smiled inwardly. As angry was she was, she remembered saying the exact thing to her mother twenty years before. And she turned out okay. Come to think of it, Ireland was a lot like her mother in a lot of other ways. They both had dark red hair that everyone envied. Their long faces were enhanced with large, almond eyes the color of coffee, and filled with a spark that no one could describe. Nicole noticed that Ireland possessed eyes filled with imagination and adventure: the same combination that _her _mother had seen in her. Both were tall and lean and knew that they were made for more.

"Then what DO you want, Ire?" she asked calmly.

"Why do you care? It'll be stupid to you," the girl spat, eyes turning black with hate and rage.

The words stung, but Nicole didn't let it show. "Just tell me, please?"

"No."

Nicole sighed. She had always wanted her daughter to live the fairy tale life. The life that she had always wanted for herself. Her whole life had been filled with fantasies of the perfect guy sweeping her off of her feet. She loved Mark with all of her heart, and although he was perfect for her, he didn't do a very good job of sweeping. It was more like picking her up, dropping her, forgetting her for three years, then picking her up again. Nicole had never been more hurt, or had ever experienced so much pain. She never told Mark how much it hurt her, but she never forgot what he put her through.

"I'm tired of arguing, Ire. Good night," she said softly.

Ireland went up to her room. Tinker Belle, the dachshund, followed her. "That's weird," she thought. Tink always had this bond with her mom. She very rarely left her side. Probably because she was about to die. Ireland heard a car door shut. She looked out to window in time to see her mom pull out of the driveway. Ireland shuddered. No matter how angry she was at her mom, she never let her mom drive when they weren't speaking.

She looked at the clock. 12:07. She wasn't sleepy at all. She went to the kitchen and filled the dog bowl, not that she needed to.

She felt so alone, and that scared her. She picked up the phone and dialed a number out of habit.

"Hello?"

"Stefany?" Ireland asked, hopefully.

"Hey, Ire. What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she never talked about fights over the phone. "I'm all alone, do you think you could come over?"

"Sure, but why cant you come over here?"

"My mom left, and I don't want her to come home and me not be here."

"That's very sweet," Stefany said, mockingly.

"Stef, I'm not in the mood. Just, please, come over."

"Okay, I was just kidding. I'll be right there."

As she hung up, Ireland smiled. Stefany Eleman was her best friend. She would come over no matter what.

It only took a minute for Stefany to get there. That was the good thing about living in a subdivision.

"So, what's the matter?" Stefany asked, looking around and throwing her bag in the corner. "Where did you say that your mom was?"

"Probably in Chicago by now. She's only been gone for about fifteen minutes. We got in a fight and she said that she was tired of arguing, so she left."

"I'm sorry. She'll be back. Look what I brought!" She grabbed her bag and pulled out a cheap gift bag and handed it to her friend.

Ireland smiled and took the bag. Inside was coloring books, crayons, cheesy romance novels that were in the drugstore, and a DVD.

Ireland stopped smiling. "Peter Pan? Thanks, Stef, but I'm not in the mood for fairy tales."

"What are you talking about? That's your favorite movie!" 

"I'm 16! I think it's time for me to accept reality. WE both know that Peter Pan isn't real…"

"Are you okay? I think you need to go to sleep," Stefany said, nervously, her voice begging Ireland not to finish her thought.

"God, Stef! We aren't kids anymore!" Ireland went to her window. "We both believed with all of our hearts that Peter pan would come and take us to the Never land. Did he??"

"In our dreams…" Stefany's huge blue eyes got bigger as her voice got softer. She didn't look seventeen. She looked like a three year old who's parents just told that Santa wasn't coming because he didn't exist.

"No! He didn't! That was just us wishing we could go!"

Stefany averted her eyes. "I'm going to brush my teeth." She slowly walked toward the bathroom.

"Peter Pan isn't real. Never land was just a dream. Fairies don't exist…" Ireland said quietly. "Why should I waste my time hoping to see something that doesn't exist?" She looked out the window, hoping to see her mom pull up. But the only thing outside were the stars. Ireland sighed. All of her life, her mother had told her to leave the curtains open, so that when Peter came, she could go with him. Peter didn't like obstacles when trying to find company. Ireland shut her eyes tightly, and with her final breath of childhood dreams and innocence, slammed the window shut and locked it. As she turned away, the curtains draped down.

"He's not real."


End file.
